Kimbert Crafton

WARSAW — Admitting he made a poor decision, Kimbert Crafton, 33, West Boston Street, Syracuse, had an opportunity to tell the court why he identified himself as a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s detective in early October 2017.

Crafton was sentenced Wednesday, July 11, in Kosciusko Superior Court III on a charge of impersonating a public servant, a level 6 felony.

Already incarcerated since Oct. 17, 2017, for 5 ½ years on two unrelated cases, Crafton appeared in handcuffs and a green jail jumper to hear what time would be added to his current incarceration. Sutton added another two years to Crafton’s sentence, but suspended one year and noted he had no objection of the sentence being served on community corrections. Sutton noted Crafton could be looking at only serving six months of that sentence once jail time credit is calculated.

A motion for sentence modification on the two unrelated cases will be heard Aug. 8.

Crafton was also to appear in Elkhart Superior Court 4 several hours later for a hearing on a motion to enter a plea pursuant to a plea agreement.

“I don’t mean to be mean or flippant, but this is one you just can’t do it … choose to represent yourself as a police officer on the phone, certainly the wrong way to go about it … .” Sutton said.

During arguments, Christanna Hampton, deputy prosecuting attorney, noted Crafton’s criminal history and the fact this crime overlapped other crimes pending at the time. She noted the fraud fortunately was immediately recognized with no secure information released.

Doug Lemon, Crafton’s attorney, stated his client was attempting to gather information about the birth of his child at the hospital after being led to believe there were complications. “He was asked to leave (the hospital) and he made a very poor choice of calling back and impersonating a public official.” Lemon stated it was a bad decision, but no harm occurred. “It was not a wise move.”

Crafton stated after hearing there was a problem with his daughter’s birth and not knowing if his daughter made it through the delivery, “I freaked out. Is it something I would do again, certainly not,” Crafton said, noting he had been asked to leave the hospital and had attempted to call to find out the situation before resorting to impersonating a public official.

“I’ve not had a chance to be a father yet. I want to turn around and do right by my daughter. I’m sorry for being in front of you for this matter.”